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For Immediate Release:
October
1, 2002 |
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PIRG Urges Senate Energy Conferees to Reject Arctic
Drilling Language, Other Harmful Proposals
Statement of
Athan Manuel, Director, PIRG Arctic Wilderness
Campaign
Senate
energy conferees should reject the latest Arctic Refuge
drilling scheme proposed by drilling advocates when the full
energy conference committee meets tomorrow morning. Last week,
House energy conferees proposed allowing drilling in the
Arctic Refuge, something the full Senate overwhelmingly
rejected in April 2002. The House conferees have also proposed
exempting toxic chemicals from product liability standards and
weakening consumer protections in electricity
markets.
The PIRGs
strongly urge the Senate conferees to reject any attempt to
open up one of America's last wild places, the coastal plain
of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for oil and gas
drilling. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge is NOT an energy plan.
If the Bush Administration and their allies in Congress were
serious about energy policy they would have supported
increasing fuel efficiency standards for cars and SUVs.
The House
language would allow oil companies to drill in the heart of
America's Arctic, a place that the local Gwich'in Indians call
"the sacred place where life begins." Drilling there would
disrupt and damage the Porcupine River caribou herd, denning
polar bears, and migratory birds that depend on a clean, wild
coastal plain for their survival.
Drilling
advocates grossly misrepresent the actual area of the coastal
plain of the Arctic Refuge that will be affected. The House's
2,000-acre limitation only addresses surface acreage covered
by production and support facilities. Pipelines, gravel roads,
and ice roads are not included in the 2,000 acres. A spider
web of development would blanket the coastal plain of the
Arctic Refuge the same way it does at Prudhoe Bay, where these
kinds of facilities cover more than 400 square
miles.
Drilling
in the Arctic Refuge will not make the U.S. less dependent on
foreign oil, reduce the price of a gallon of gas, or replace
oil from Iraq. There simply is not that much oil in the Arctic
Refuge, perhaps six months worth at current rates of
consumption. It still does not make sense to ruin one
of America's last wild places for six months worth of
oil.
Consumers
and the environment will suffer if the conferees adopt other
harmful House proposals that would exempt toxic chemicals such
as the fuel additive MTBE, from product liability laws.
Finally, the House conferees proposed sweeping changes to
electricity laws, including allowing the Federal government to
override state's decisions on transmission line siting and
repealing consumer protections in electricity
markets.
The last
thing America needs is an energy bill that shortchanges
consumers and the environment to reward big oil and power
companies.
30-30-30
U.S.
PIRG is the national lobbying office for the state Public
Interest Research Groups. State PIRGs are non-profit,
non-partisan public interest advocacy
organizations.
